Gold went from less than $400 in 2000 to over $1800 in 2012. That's quite volatile too. Between 1970 and 1980 it was even worse. Overall it's holding it's value pretty well, but only when you average it out over a few decades.
Gold has use in the Real world, like in the computer you are using , and in jewelry, signs , plumbing fixtures.
Sure, but the amount that is mined every year exceeds the real world usage, and the rest keeps stockpiling up. Most of the gold in the world is in that stockpile, never been used for anything since it came out of the ground. Most gold jewelry is also a form of storage. In times of need, people expect to be able to pawn their gold jewelry.
What might happen if a big player got involved. Or multiple big players? What if Ebay (Paypal), Amazon, Google and Apple teamed up to create a new cryptocurrency designed entirely as a means of final purchase?
Why would they not simply use the existing Bitcoin ? There's no advantage for them to use an unproven alternative with zero market share. And even if this new coin had an advantage for them, this would most likely translate into a disadvantage for other users.
Let's say the only transaction fees were when you moved from their digital currency to national currencies and back
That's only possible if the transactions were processed centrally by these big players, which would be a good example of such a disadvantage for users.
If a large enough number of people jump onto a new crpytocurrency bandwagon (which seems likely as the early adoption payback is incredibly high), then voila - you have your network effect.
I don't think you can make a large network based only on early adopters.
Yeah but you can use gold for things, even post-apocalypse
While technically true, the very post-apocalypse utility of gold does not explain its current valuation. Based on that logic, you'd expect stainless steel to have a higher value than gold, because it's more useful. Same with paper in paper money. A $100 bill has the same paper as a $20 bill, so this does not help explain the value either.
Bitcoin is even more ephemeral than my electronic dollars at the bank
Your electronic dollars at the bank are just ones and zeroes, just like bitcoin. The only real difference is the central vs distributed transaction model.
You can make as many cryptocurrencies as you wish,
The value of cryptocurrency comes from the network effect. Sure you can take the Bitcoin code, and create a new blockchain, and change the name, but if nobody wants to use your coin, it's not worth anything. In order to gain value over existing coins it must offer some new distinguishing features that people actually care about.
I'm pretty sure that anyone drinking a pint a day isn't overly concerned about the health effects, good or bad.
Which makes it likely that people who consume those kinds of quantities of alcohol also have other poor habits which could be responsible for the mental damage. That's always a problem with these kinds of observational studies.
No, the bitcoin supply is still inflating by 1800 coins/day. The price is simply going up due to increased demand. I agree that volatility is bad for a currency, but I don't consider bitcoin a currency. I think it's best compared to "digital gold". You can store it, and trade it, but it's not really practical for day to day replacement of fiat money.
I tend to think that we need to act better than our base desires though, that is the only way a civilisation can progress and I really object to it being used as an excuse to be unpleasant to someone.
You're fighting against the laws of nature. Top dog alpha men get more children, and women are attracted by them because they want their genes for their sons.
Moreover, suggesting women need to hide behind a gender-neutral alias in order to contribute to an OSS project should be big enough a tell for you to figure out you are way out of line.
They don't need to, but it's easy to do, and it solves the problems without much sacrifice. And you can still try to make it a better place at the same time.
Slashdot Mirror
It's worth 0, it's not hard at all to estimate that value.
How much would you pay right now for 1 Bitcoin, if you weren't allowed to sell it until this day next year ?
Gold went from less than $400 in 2000 to over $1800 in 2012. That's quite volatile too. Between 1970 and 1980 it was even worse. Overall it's holding it's value pretty well, but only when you average it out over a few decades.
Gold has use in the Real world, like in the computer you are using , and in jewelry, signs , plumbing fixtures.
Sure, but the amount that is mined every year exceeds the real world usage, and the rest keeps stockpiling up. Most of the gold in the world is in that stockpile, never been used for anything since it came out of the ground. Most gold jewelry is also a form of storage. In times of need, people expect to be able to pawn their gold jewelry.
What might happen if a big player got involved. Or multiple big players? What if Ebay (Paypal), Amazon, Google and Apple teamed up to create a new cryptocurrency designed entirely as a means of final purchase?
Why would they not simply use the existing Bitcoin ? There's no advantage for them to use an unproven alternative with zero market share. And even if this new coin had an advantage for them, this would most likely translate into a disadvantage for other users.
Let's say the only transaction fees were when you moved from their digital currency to national currencies and back
That's only possible if the transactions were processed centrally by these big players, which would be a good example of such a disadvantage for users.
Very few of my transfers have public data attached to them, and most of them use unique addresses. There's nothing for you to verify.
If Peter Schiff really knew what he was talking about, he'd be making money by investing, not by telling others how to do it.
I don't hate inflation. Inflation is good, as long as it's moderate. I hate out-of-control inflation.
Name them and the 'things of value' along with the blockchain.info link. Bitcoin makes it easy to verify you're telling the truth, proceed.
How ? I could point to a random blockchain entry, and say that it was used to purchase a car. How would you verify ?
The blockchain only contains the transfer of bitcoin, it doesn't tell you what the countervalue of the transaction was.
All the gold in the world has a combined value of $8 trillion, and it doesn't have anywhere near this intrinsic value. Why does it not crash ?
If a large enough number of people jump onto a new crpytocurrency bandwagon (which seems likely as the early adoption payback is incredibly high), then voila - you have your network effect.
I don't think you can make a large network based only on early adopters.
Bitcoin is in the process of price discovery, and it started from zero, so it natural that it's volatile.
Yeah but you can use gold for things, even post-apocalypse
While technically true, the very post-apocalypse utility of gold does not explain its current valuation. Based on that logic, you'd expect stainless steel to have a higher value than gold, because it's more useful. Same with paper in paper money. A $100 bill has the same paper as a $20 bill, so this does not help explain the value either.
Bitcoin is even more ephemeral than my electronic dollars at the bank
Your electronic dollars at the bank are just ones and zeroes, just like bitcoin. The only real difference is the central vs distributed transaction model.
You can make as many cryptocurrencies as you wish,
The value of cryptocurrency comes from the network effect. Sure you can take the Bitcoin code, and create a new blockchain, and change the name, but if nobody wants to use your coin, it's not worth anything. In order to gain value over existing coins it must offer some new distinguishing features that people actually care about.
Or the new gold bullion. Gold has been used as store of value for thousands of years, and has held its value pretty well.
I'm pretty sure that anyone drinking a pint a day isn't overly concerned about the health effects, good or bad.
Which makes it likely that people who consume those kinds of quantities of alcohol also have other poor habits which could be responsible for the mental damage. That's always a problem with these kinds of observational studies.
That's called deflation, isn't it?
No, the bitcoin supply is still inflating by 1800 coins/day. The price is simply going up due to increased demand. I agree that volatility is bad for a currency, but I don't consider bitcoin a currency. I think it's best compared to "digital gold". You can store it, and trade it, but it's not really practical for day to day replacement of fiat money.
...and it'd point to articles on how actual news organisations do this
Nice try, except for the fact that those articles don't exist.
Why would they do that ? They make more money this way.
I tend to think that we need to act better than our base desires though, that is the only way a civilisation can progress and I really object to it being used as an excuse to be unpleasant to someone.
You're fighting against the laws of nature. Top dog alpha men get more children, and women are attracted by them because they want their genes for their sons.
Moreover, suggesting women need to hide behind a gender-neutral alias in order to contribute to an OSS project should be big enough a tell for you to figure out you are way out of line.
They don't need to, but it's easy to do, and it solves the problems without much sacrifice. And you can still try to make it a better place at the same time.
Of course, they "shouldn't have to", but it's an easy solution that works today. Or, you can wait forever for the rest of the world to change.
This goes to the heart of the purpose of a search engine. Should it solely return "free" results?
It should return results that I want to see.
For everything else, you either have to pay, or visit a site that's trying to sell you something else.
That's why having a choice would be nice.
For some people, not being a creep outweighs manipulating into bed every woman you have a vague chance with.
Nice hyperbole.